Is It Healthier to Scrap Your Alarm Clock?

Hot on the heels of her colleague's revelation that he's decided swear off soap and shampoo for the foreseeable future, the BoingBoing contributor Andrea James has today outed herself as an alarm abstainer. That is, James says she's doesn't use any sort of alarm—clock, watch, or cellphone—to wake herself up. She also claims that, in eight years of rising according to her biological clock, she's not ever overslept or missed a single important appointment.

Sound impossible? Maybe. But James says eschewing an alarm has both forced her to adopt better behavior and improved her health:

I go to bed sooner, especially if I have something important the next morning.

I remember my dreams more often.

I feel much sharper in the mornings than I used to.

My skin looks better, especially around and under my eyes.

Despite what seems like unwavering faith in her no-alarm method, James does admit that she never sleeps before morning plane flights, choosing instead to stay up all night and nap on the plane. I also wonder if she ever goes out for late dinners or drinks on work nights, like most everybody I know does from time to time. Still, there may be something to be said for not starting your day with loud, unnatural beeps ringing in your brain.

I, for one, don't have enough faith in my internal timing to try this out. Do you?